Judge in Mark Sanchez Case Abruptly Recuses Herself, Court Date Canceled

The judge in the criminal case against former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez has abruptly recused herself, throwing the future of the trial into uncertainty.

Jennifer Prinz Harrison signed an order recusing herself from the case on Tuesday, October 14, according to court documents viewed by Us Weekly. 

The order of transfer requested that the Marion County Clerk’s office randomly assign Sanchez’s case to another major felony court in the county.

No reason or explanation for the requested transfer was given. 

Sanchez’s next court date, scheduled for November, has been canceled. A make-up date has yet to be announced. 

Harrison was assigned to the case after prosecutors added a felony 5 charge to the list of other alleged offenses against Sanchez, 38, on October 6. The felony charge carries a penalty of one to five years in prison. 

Sanchez was originally charged with three misdemeanors — battery resulting in injury, public intoxication and unlawful entry of a motor vehicle — in connection to a violent incident on Saturday, October 4, when Sanchez allegedly assaulted a 69-year-old delivery driver named Perry Tole in the alley outside a downtown Indianapolis bar. 

The former New York Jets star has pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

According to the Indy Star, Harrison has frequently come under fire from critics who have deemed her punishments too lenient. 

In October 2023, Harrison drew the ire of former Indiana State Police superintendent Joe Carter after she released a man named Luis Leyba-Gonzalez — accused of killing three people, including his own cousin and younger brother — while fleeing police in a high-speed chase. 

“Damn it, this is not OK,” Carter told Fox59 News at the time. “What we’re doing is not working, and we need to talk about it and get uncomfortable.”

Earlier this month, Leyba-Gonzalez, was sentenced to two years in prison by Harrison. He will also serve seven years of home detention. 

Leyba-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to nine counts, including three counts of resisting law enforcement resulting in death, three counts of reckless homicide and three counts of causing death when operating a vehicle while a scheduled I or II substance is in the blood.

“They need another judge,” Brenda Hankins, one of the victim’s granddaughters, told the Indy Star on Monday, October 13. “To go easy on someone who killed three people is just so wrong.”

The dispute between Sanchez and Told allegedly went down at approximately 12:30 a.m., when Sanchez is alleged to have approached Tole’s delivery truck parked in an alley where the quarterback had been lingering. 

Sanchez allegedly physically assaulted Tole during the attack, with Tole claiming self-defense in pepper spraying and stabbing Sanchez. 

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officers were called to Loughmiller’s Pub and Eatery minutes later. When they arrived, they found Sanchez with multiple stab wounds to his upper torso.

Both men were transported to the hospital with their injuries, with Tole’s family later sharing photos of the delivery driver with a large gash on his face. 

Sanchez broke his silence about the incident and his subsequent arrest outside the Marion County Jail in Indianapolis on Sunday, October 12. 

“Right now, I’m just focused on my recovery,” Sanchez said in an interview with Fox59 News and CBS 4 Indy. “I just wanted to thank the first responders, Eskenazi Hospital. I just want to thank Dr. [Lindsey] Mossler, the surgeon. She saved my life, so I’m grateful for that.”